


Keep Your Hands to Yourself

by Sycriad



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Awkwardness, F/M, Fluff, Gender Neutral, Groping, Guilt, Injury, Losing Control, M/M, Panic Attack, Probably ooc, Some Filler, Unconsciousness, shy reader, slight blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-24 00:47:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14944487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sycriad/pseuds/Sycriad
Summary: So an angry blue AI man takes over Rhys and causes some trouble.Vallory also caused trouble.There's nothing but trouble, but it works out so it's okay.





	Keep Your Hands to Yourself

“My energy chassis is somewhere in there!” Gortys pointed at the massive dome-shaped facility in front of the caravan as it came to a stop.

“Alright! Let’s go!” (Name) spoke excitedly as they picked up Gortys and exited the caravan, immediately followed by Loader Bot. They weren’t very good at conversing with people, so they mainly only talked to the robots. Every time they attempted to do so or someone approached them, anxiety grabbed them by the tongue and their mouth went dry. They could occasionally talk to their adoptive sisters, Sasha and Fiona, but it always ended awkwardly, then (Name) would apologize and scurry off. The sisters tried to break them of that habit and even though there was some success, it was still uncomfortable. It was a habit carried over from childhood.

(Name) had come from Hyperion long ago, way before Rhys and Vaughn came down to sabotage Vasquez. They were, however, born into the company, their mother working in the Data-Mining Department, much like Rhys did and their father was an Engineer. (Name) knew a hell of a lot about coding and mechanics because of it. Eventually, much to the family’s dismay, (Name’s) father got... er- jettisoned out of an airlock, as that was a popular uh… punishment…. Once their mother had found out, she had (narrowly, mind you) absconded from Helios and took up residence on Pandora with (Name). 

The two of them had taken to living in an old and secluded Dahl facility. Life there was a struggle for years. Finding food was difficult seeing as the only thing in the area were skags and neither mother nor child knew how to fight, they only knew technology. Skags, being vicious and living in packs were difficult to pick off one at a time. If one died, the others swarmed, so that normally meant killing multiple and drying the meat for later. Water was also a problem seeing as there wasn’t any for miles. After they had depleted food sources in the area, the two of them had become weak from hunger. The had to travel to find more Skags and at that point were exhausted, but they tried to hunt regardless. Their mother used herself as a distraction so that (Name) could escape. They had to grow up quickly in order to survive when their mother died, and once on their own, they wandered. They lived the life as a drifter until they ended up in Hollow Point. After that, everything had become a blur as dehydration, hunger, and exhaustion set in. They didn’t remember how, but they ended up with Sasha, Fiona, and Felix. None of them knew of their history. (Name) didn’t want them to know. And it stayed like that. Even now they didn’t know.

It was very cold. Snow rained down from above, the flakes feathery and soft. (Name) stuck their tongue out to catch them as a child would, and it immediately melted across their taste buds. They’d never seen snow before and were very excited. They gleefully put down Gortys, scooped up some snow, packed it into a ball, and threw it at Sasha who had been talking to Vaughn about Dumpy. She whipped her head around, only to see that it was (Name) who’s face had lit up in joy. She smirked at them.

“Oh, it’s on,” she uttered competitively, causing everyone to turn their attention to her as she packed some snow into a ball and throwing it back at (Name), who got it straight in the gut. With an ‘oof’, they dropped to their knees and feigned injury. Sasha, immediately worried, made her way over to them only to get a hand full of snow smashed against her face. There was laughter as Sasha reciprocated with another snowball that was expertly dodged. It hit Rhys in the face.

“Hey!” He whined.

“Oh suck it up, you big baby.” (Name) joked, earning a glare from him that immediately shut them up. They picked up Gortys again and headed to the entrance. Fiona and Sasha exchanged looks before Fiona returned Rhys’ glare and followed behind her sister after (Name). Vaughn glanced at Rhys who now felt slightly bad for glaring at the quiet individual. He knew how they were. The two men quietly caught up with the others at the entrance.

Everyone stared in awe as they walked towards the building. “Whoa. That’s not normal.” Rhys murmured

“It shouldn’t exist.” Athena retorted.

“Great, great. It’s freezing out here and we are heading into a place that shouldn’t exist.” He pulled a face.

“Desert, ice, and now this. I’ve never seen anything like it before.” Sasha spoke now.

“So this is where the upgrade thingie is?” Rhys turned to Gortys, who was still in (Name’s) arms. They put the tiny robot down.

“We’re so close!” She exclaimed as she rolled into the small jungle.

(Name) followed close behind, admiring the bioluminescent plant life. It was short-lived, however, because for the tenth time today their hearing aids were acting up. They emitted loud static and a high pitched drone that was so loud that (Name) had to turn the devices off, much to their displeasure. They’d always had Congenital Hearing Loss, and their mother had had the same issue. They weren’t completely deaf but the hearing aids did help, yet lately, they’d been acting up. (Name) tried tinkering with them but nothing worked. 

With a hiss of pain, they rubbed their temples and sighed, looking at a tall mushroom to their left. The hearing aids were fine until they walked up to this plant. They stared at it long and hard before moving on, not knowing that Rhys was gazing at them with question. Switching on his echo eye, he noted Jack sitting atop the mushroom that (Name) had previously been staring up at. The hologram was watching them walk away. Rhys’ eyes widened. Could they see him too or was it a coincidence? Jack looked over at him with a cocky grin, knowing exactly what he had been thinking.

“Can they-?”

“Nope. You’re the only one stuck with me. But… they can hear me. If I want them to that is.” Jack smirked pointing to his ears, “But I don’t so you get me all to yourself, Rhysie.” 

“Right…,” Rhys muttered remembering that (Name) has hearing aids. He tried to disregard Jack’s last statement and moved on.

“Ohhh… Thataway!” Gortys pointed up ahead speeding off into the distance with everyone behind. All eyes shifted up to the glass dome. “This place is cool.”

“So, how do we get in?” Sasha asked, placing her hands on her hips. Gortys shrugged and moved along, leaving everyone to continue exploring. (Name), however, stood in front of the blocked off door. Glancing over it, something to the right caught their eye. A lever. Without any hesitation, they pulled it, and the doors began to open. Not long after though, they got caught on the scrap metal that barricaded it. They frowned and looked around before quietly shuffling over to Rhys, and pulling on his sleeve. He jumped, looking down at them.

“The- The door.” They mumbled, pointing at it.

“Hm..” He stared at it for a moment, before hatching an idea. “Hey! Loader Bot!” The robot looked up from his conversation with Gortys to see Rhys approaching him. “Could you help me with something?” He motioned with his head to the blocked off door.

Loader Bot looked down at Gortys. “My human needs me.” He made his way over to the rubble and began to throw it aside.

“Thanks, buddy.” Rhys grinned at the robot as he stood in the doorway, the rest of the group passing him and going inside ahead of him. The lanky brunet flinched as Loader Bot approached him, only to be given a pat on the head.

“Nice work.” The robot turned and followed the others, as Rhys jumped once more to the sound of a snicker behind him. He turned to see (Name), suppressing laughter with a soft grin, but when their eyes locked, (Name) immediately ceased their antics and moved stiffly but quickly around him and through the doorway. He sighed and trailed behind them. The group continued along the path and up the stairs and into the very large dome-shaped building.

“Uh, anyone else’s creepometer going bananas right now?” Fiona asked, hesitantly looked around.

“Um, maybe Dumpy can scout ahead?” Vaughn suggested. Dumpy made a distorted droning before floating ahead, crashing right into a customization station before hitting the ground brokenly.

“I guess that means we’re safe, then. Thanks, Vaughn.” Fiona voiced.

“So… my upgrade’s nearby! Sorry if it’s kinda spooky in here.” Gortys apologized with a frown and her hands on her ‘hips’.

“You know, just once I’d like to search an abandoned health spa or something. With fluffy towels.” Sasha mentioned.

“Spooky? Ehh… Spooky I can handle. This room feels… I dunno.” Fiona said.

“I do. It feels dangerous.” Athena warned.

“Well- Gortys’ upgrade is here somewhere…. We just have to, uh, look for it.” (Name) muttered, subconsciously grabbing onto the back of Rhys’ vest. He turned his head to look at them and offered them a reassuring gaze. They smile at him weakly. Everyone parted to examine the room. Vaughn ate fruit, Rhys and (Name) examined the computers, Sasha looked amongst boxes and Fiona wandered around looking at various things. 

Soon Fiona had found a map and everyone was debating on what it meant. Fiona even went as far as mentioning that someone might be living there. Then suddenly Gortys uttered a small ‘Oops’ and retracted into a ball. Fiona hesitantly wandered over.

“Fi-Fiona… Look up.” (Name) uttered. Fiona’s gaze instantly traveled upwards and she immediately pulled a gun on the figure that stood before her.

“Don’t kill me!” He pleaded, “Please, please don’t kill me! I- I- I have just been watching you! Just-- Just watching, that’s all. I swear I am completely harmless! There is absolutely no need for you to kill me, I- I assure you!”

“You do realize that the more you tell us not to kill you, the more it seems like it’s kinda the right idea?” Rhys piped up.

“Alright. You don't want to die, you do exactly as I tell you to.”

\-----

Cassius had told you where the Gortys’ energy chassis was located and that there was a security system that needed to be shut down before it could be acquired. The group split up. Athena and Fiona went to the snatch the chassis, Sasha and Rhys went kill the defenses, and (Name) stayed behind with Vaughn in order to access the computers. But now that Fiona and Athena had come back, Cassius was practically begging you to leave.

“We can’t leave without Rhys and Sasha though….” (Name) stated quietly.  
“Well, perhaps I should be the one to leave then,” and with that, Cassius walked off.

A sudden “Whoooo!” drew everyone’s attention. They all watched as the door opened and Sasha and Rhys walked in. “God! I forgot how great this feels!” Rhys was the one that was shouting. Sasha shook her head. (Name) spoke up when he called Vaughn a dweeb.

“Rhys… are you feeling okay?” They looked over at him hesitantly, voice shaky.

“He, uh, took a spill…” Sasha muttered.

“Rhys… you’re acting like an ass.” Fiona growled

“Listen, sweetie.”

“Sweetie?” She repeated, angrily.

“I just gotta be me, baby. Y’know, this me… the- the me that I am right now?” Suddenly, he turned to Athena, and before anyone knew it he was telling her to kill the elderly man.

“Rhys, shut up!” Sasha scolded.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Got a little carried away won’t happen again, cupcake.”

He then switched his attention to (Name). “And you, pumpkin! You are really fun to mess with!” Before they could get even a word in, he grabbed them from behind, his robotic arm wrapped very tightly around their midsection, holding down their arms. His other hand was planted firmly on their ass. They aggressively struggled against his grip only to have it get tighter on both ends.

“Rh-Rhys! Stop it! I can’t breathe! That hurts! Stop!” That was the first time that anyone had heard them yell. He merely laughed at their actions, eyes shifting to their neck, where he then roughly placed a 'love bite'. (Name) yelped. “Release me! Let me go! You- You- You asshat! Fu-fuckface!” "You have quite the colorful language, buttercup." He mocked only for (Name) to intensify their kicking and flailing. They finally rammed their head back into his face, and he released them before falling unconscious on the floor.

“What the hell was that?” Loader Bot asked, and as soon as (Name) regained themselves they ran out the entrance. Nobody followed them. They had to deal with Athena and Cassius.

(Name) was hyperventilating, and they had gone into full panic attack mode. Why had he done that? That wasn’t Rhys. It couldn’t have been. That’s wasn’t something he’d do. They hid. That’s the only thing that they could think to do. It hurt them to breathe and they had tears rolling down their cheeks. Their heart was racing abnormally fast and dizziness was hitting them in waves. They reached down to pull Dumpy out of their jacket. They were going to surprise Rhys since they figure out how to fix the voice modulator, but now they didn’t think that they could face him. They pulled a screwdriver out of their pocket and began to finish the tuneups they started earlier. They’d just give leave Dumpy with him and not say anything.

They were disrupted from their thoughts by and large, bulky man barreling past them and into the building where everyone else was. Then there was shouting followed by glass shattering. Shoving Dumpy back into their jacket, they got up and ran back inside. They stood and watched in horror as Fiona fell out the window. As fast as their feet could carry them, they sprinted to the glass in an attempt to catch her, only to miss and get flung out by an explosion.

\--

Rhys painfully sat up from the ground, and the first thing he saw was Jack. “Why does my face hurt?” He held a hand up to his nose, only to find it bloody.

“Hey, buddy! Yeah, sorry I had to take over your body. I was just, uh... Just tryin’ ta keep ya outta harm’s way.” Jack explained, “Y-You all right?”

“I don’t think so--”

“--Yeah, yeah, y-you’re all right. Walk it off, sport.” Rhys looked around seeing Vaughn, unconscious laying across a tree branch. His eyes widened and but his gaze was torn towards a hole in the wall as a car drove through, with Vallory walking up behind it.

“Oh no…” He muttered.

\--

(Name) shot up, immediately crying out as pain shot through their body. The bruise across their torso from Rhys’ arm throbbed and their leg was bloody due to a shard of glass going entirely through it. They whined, knowing that if they pulled it out it’ll accelerate the blood flow. Dragging themselves to a nearby tree they pulled themselves up.

“Owowowowow….” They whimpered, scanning the area. Nobody was to be seen. The sound of cars was to their left and the sound of gunshots was to their right, however, they continued forward, using the trees as support. Blood ran down their leg, leaving a trail on the ground behind them. They were already panting, their injuries tiring them, but they had to find someone, so they persevered. The heavy limping was no help though. “Fi-Fiona! Sasha!” Their voice refused to go as loud as they had wanted it to. “Vaughn! Please... someone….” They hauled themselves forward. Eventually, they found themselves back outside in the snow. Athena was nowhere to be seen, Fiona was stuck underneath a massive rocket launcher, Rhys and Sasha were restrained and Vaughn had a knife in his ribs. Vallory and her men had overpowered them. Suddenly a hand clamped down over their mouth and another picked them up by the back of their shirt. They flailed and kicked and yelled and bit at him.  
“Found this one snooping.” One of the lackeys dropped her at Vallory’s feet. Rhys stared in horror.

“Ow ow, ow….” (Name) writhed on the ground.

“Not so rough.” She growled

“Y-Yes ma’am.” He shut up immediately afterward.

“So what do you say, Fiona?” Vallory continued on.

“Fine! We’ll help you! Just stop!”

Vallory’s scowl turned to a pleased expression, “That’s all I wanted to hear.” She then shoved Vaughn into the arms of one her subordinates. “Patch up the nerd. Don’t want him bleeding out on us.” She looked down at (Name) and kicked them in the same direction she shoved Vaughn. “This one too.” 

They yelped. That kick probably made their bruise worse. Finch yanked them up by their arm, ripping the glass out of their thigh with his free hand. They cried out again, weeping as both they and Vaughn got dragged off.

“Hey! Be- Be careful...” Rhys’ shout started off angry but then died down as Vallory glared at him. Fiona and Sasha were still angry at him for earlier.

“What do you care?” Fiona hissed. Rhys stared on in confusion.

“We’ll discuss this later,” Sasha said.

\--

They had just finished discussing the plan to get the Gortys’ beacon with August, exited the caravan to tell Vallory. (Name) was lying across the red booth seat with her head in Sasha’s lap, still, in excruciating pain, something cold pressed against their abdomen.

“Everything hurts…” They muttered as the sisters stared down at her in pity. 

“It’s, uh, later… What were we going to discuss..?”

“Your little outburst.” Sasha stared up at him angrily

“Oh, no….” (Name) groaned.

“O-Oh no? Wh-Wh-Why oh no?” Rhys was thoroughly spooked. He didn’t want to know what Jack did while he took over his body.

“Oh, this should be good.” Jack appeared next to him, arms crossed, expression as cocky as ever. (Name), having turned their hearing aids back on, squeaked as they once again began to act up. They took them out. 

“Why does this always happen?” They muttered under their breath. Rhys turned his attention to Jack.

“Stop. Go away.” He growled so only he Jack could hear.

“And what? Miss all the fun? I don’t think so, Kitten.”

Rhys sneered and turned his attention back to the angry sisters, who were staring at him suspiciously.

“Don’t you ‘Why oh no?’ us, Rhys.”

“I-I seriously don’t know-” Both sisters yanked (Name) upright and reveal the obvious, mechanical arm shaped bruise across their gut. They quickly pull their shirt back down and go onto the roof, clearly distraught and embarrassed. Rhys angrily shifted his gaze to Jack.

“You wouldn’t make the first move, so I, uh, took the initiative. Your welcome.” He smirked.

“Rhys, what are you looking at? Why are you acting so weird?” Fiona questioned

“I, uh, h-had an… out of body experience… i-it wouldn’t happen again….” He glared at Jack, “It better not.”

“If something is wrong you need to tell us. And something is obviously wrong, Rhys.”

“It’s- I’m fine. I just… have to go apologize.”

“Yeah, you do.” Sasha crossed her arms, as Rhys ascended to the roof of the caravan. He poked his head up top and stared at (Name) as they worked on Dumpy before he fully climbed up and sat down in front of them.

“L-L-Listen, uh I’m sorry for, y-y’know what happened earlier. I didn’t necessarily have… control over the… the situation, uh….” He rubbed the back of his neck, unsure of how to apologize. (Name) started at him. He didn’t have control?

They were silent for a moment. “Then what happened?”  
“You- You wouldn’t believe me if I told you….”

“Try me.”

“Handsome Jack is, uh, in my head…. He’s uh… in the… caravan….”

They raised an eyebrow. “Handsome Jack? The dead one?”

“He’s, uh, he’s a… hologram….”

They contemplated. “I-I suppose that could explain…. why my hearing aids are acting up…. They didn’t start m-malfunctioning until you started talking to yoursel- er him…. Sorry….”

“No- No I’m the one that... needs to apologize…. What- What else did he… do exactly… when he had…. control of me…? Man, that sounds weird out loud.”

Their face turned red and they immediately became awkward and shied away. “He- …. He grabbed my rear and wouldn’t let go…, and he... bit me” They looked away, craning their head to the side so he could see they had been bitten.

Now it was Rhys’ turn to turn red. “O-Oh, uh….”

They cleared their throat. “I- ...fixed Dumpy’s voice modulator.” They stammered, handing him the robot. He turned to them with a look of shock.

“Hi, Rhys!” The small robot spoke with joy.

“H-How?”

“I’ve never told anyone this… not even Fiona and Sasha... but… My- My parents both worked for Hyperion. My dad was an engineer, that’s how I fixed dumpy… and my mom worked for Data-Mining like you… That’s how I was able to help you with the computers. They taught me all kinds of things.”

“Why are you here.”

“My father, uh, got jettisoned into space, so my mom brought me here. She was Skag food though.”

Rhys inhaled sharply. “S-Sorry.”

“N-No. I’m happy I ended up here. I like being around you guys….” They swallowed hard and stared up at Rhys. “I think that part of the reason that what happened bothered me so much was that…. Well, I like you and I knew that that wasn’t a behavior that you would typically have. I panicked and ran out... I’m sorry about your nose… I had to headbutt you so he would let go....”  
Rhys stared at them. “The reason he did it was because-” He took a deep breath, "I like you too….”

“Then you wouldn't mind if I… did this?” They leaned over with a sudden burst of confidence and timorously grabbed his hand. Staring into his heterochromatic eyes, they saw that he shared their anxieties. Regardless though, they slowly leaned in and smooched his cheek, fearful that they would make a mistake.

He gave a red-faced grin. “Not one bit.” He cupped their face in both hands and went in for seconds, and with that one action they felt all their stresses melt away.


End file.
